The American Anthropological Association (AAA) has finalized an agreement with Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) to develop a clone of its award-winning RACE: Are We So Different? traveling exhibit. The exhibits are a part of the larger public education program developed by AAA.

The clone of the 5000-square-foot exhibit is being produced as a direct result of overwhelming success and popularity of the original exhibit. Currently on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the original RACE exhibit is touring nationally, with stops scheduled at such renowned institutions as California Science Center in Los Angeles, The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and the Museum of Science in Boston.

The tour, which launched in 2007 at the SMM, was set to conclude at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 2011; with this new arrangement the tour will be extended through 2014.

The exhibit, part of AAA’s far-reaching public educational program, also includes an interactive website:www.understandingRACE.organd an educational DVD-CD set developed to promote informed conversations and a new understanding of race in the US. The exhibit was co-developed with SMM, which will build the clone.

“‘RACE generated a groundswell of passion and engagement here in St. Paul that veteran staff had rarely seen,” said Robert Garfinkle, Program Director of Science and Social Change at SMM. “The exhibit touched a nerve in people hungry for a chance to learn and talk about this hugely important topic in our country,” explained Garfinkle.

To date, over 1.5 million people have visited the RACE exhibit and website. The addition of the clone exhibit, which will begin touring in early 2010, enables the messages of the RACE project to impact an even broader audience.

Exploring the origins and manifestations of race and racism in everyday life in America, the exhibit inspires dialogue about race and educates the public on a topic not always easy to talk about.

“Our intention through this project has been to challenge the many popularly held assumptions and beliefs about race that have been the source of divisions among us. Our hope has been to build a bridge based on a true understanding of what ‘race’ is and what it isn’t,” AAA Executive Director Bill Davis noted.

AAA received grants from the Ford Foundation and National Science Foundation totaling nearly $4.5 million to develop and produce the traveling museum exhibit, a website, and other educational materials.

In addition to the 5,000-square-foot clone exhibit, the RACE Project will produce a smaller 1,500-square-foot exhibit specifically designed to tour universities, smaller museums, and other specialized venues.

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world's largest professional organization of anthropologists and others interested in anthropology, with an average annual membership of more than 10,000. The Arlington, Va.-based association represents all specialties within anthropology — cultural anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and applied anthropology.